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Deep thoughts, cheap shots & bon mots ...

on April 26, 2014

-- I'm not blaming players for Donald Sterling's idiocy, but his hate stuff is not new, and it's surprising that no NBA player, black or white, ever said publicly, "I won't play for a team owned by Donald Sterling."

-- You can bet the Clippers will be saying that when their playoff run ends. It's like the old Dylan song, "I ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more." The Clips will sing, "I ain't gonna work on Don's plantation no more."

-- Wonder if Sterling will tell Doc Riversnot to bring black people to his games.

-- As a team owner, Sterling is toast. Wonder Bread burnt to a crisp. The league can't afford him, morally or financially. Adios.

-- And I don't like Sterling's chances of patching things up with his sweetie. Or with his wife.

-- Not sure what the NBA's unwritten rules say about bench behavior, but a Warriors assistant coach bench-jockeying Chris Paul? That seems a little unusual.

-- It's understandable that Raiders fans feel their team is getting screwed by the schedule makers. The NFL should have mixed in a few college opponents.

-- Perfect. The Chicago Cubs lose on the 100th anniversary of Wrigley Field. I bet Ernie Banks sauntered into the clubhouse and shouted, "It's a beautiful day, let's lose two!"

-- Fun fact: Gum wads stuck under seats at Wrigley Field are recycled into Wrigley's new ABC gum.

-- Every time the A's have a setback in plans/negotiations over ballparks, they don't go back to Square One, they go back to Square Minus-Six.

-- I ran into A's co-owner Lew Wolffin a cafe in Los Angeles last week. He was meeting with a guy who was drawing figures on a legal pad, and they weren't dividing up the check. Wolff and John Fisherbuy Raiders, move 'em to L.A.?

-- Memo to Blake Griffin: In shooting a free throw, the purpose of bending the knees and pushing up is to add momentum to the shot. If you bend knees, flex, come to a full stop and then shoot, you offend Isaac Newton.

-- Secondhand smoke is dangerous. The NBA should ban pregame fireworks, which cloud up the court for five minutes. Why not a simple 21-gun salute to America?

-- Michael Pineda gets a 10-game suspension for pine tar on his neck. Maybe he uses it to hold his cell phone in place while he's reading the newspaper.

-- E-mail from China: "Do you have recent need for sputtering targets or rare earth materials?" How do they know? I ordered a case of each.